Protective Effects of Hispidulin Against Oleic Acid-induced Acute Kidney Injury in Rats: Integrated Enzymatic and Molecular Docking Analysis

Oleic acid (OA) is the primary monounsaturated free fatty acid that is crucial in animal nutrition, but excessive amounts can cause cell damage. Hispidulin (HIS) is a flavone present in several plants that has diverse pharmacological actions such as anti-adipogenic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anticancer, and antifungal characteristics. During the investigation, 30 adult male Sprague Dawley rats were used. The normal control group, OA group, and HIS+OA group of ten rats each were formed randomly. After OA and HIS application, rats were sacrificed and some metabolic enzymes (paraoxonase-1, butyrylcholinesterase [BChE], glutathione reductase, aldose reductase [AR], sorbitol dehydrogenase [SDH], acetylcholinesterase [AChE], and glutathione S-transferase [GST]) activity was determined in kidney tissues. The OA group did not have a significant impact on the activities of GST compared to the control group. The activity of AR exhibited a significant decrease in response to OA and HIS+OA groups (*p < 0.05) compared to control. The study found that AChE, BChE, and SDH activity was considerably reduced in the OA group compared to the control group (*p < 0.05). Also, we investigated the molecular mechanism of OA and HIS components with target proteins.